AMBER, OKLAHOMA · DATA CENTERS
Events of July – September 22, 2026
What happened: Aligned Data Centers bought about 850 acres near Amber, a town of roughly 400 about 45 minutes southwest of Oklahoma City, for $17 million in late July, The Frontier’s Kayla Branch reported on September 26. Amber’s plan to annex the land, which would have given the town a say over the project, was cancelled at a September 22 council hearing after a handful of landowners who had agreed to the annexation pulled out. Grady County has no formal planning commission regulating unincorporated land.
Claim: Aligned says the campus could grow to as many as 10 buildings, with the first bringing about 60 permanent jobs, and that it would truck in about 240,000 gallons of water per building for closed-loop cooling rather than draw on local supply. “We bought the land, and we are trying to be transparent,” said David Robinson, Aligned’s executive vice president of strategic development, who also pointed to added tax revenue for schools. Groundbreaking could come as early as December.
Check: The water and jobs figures are the company’s own. An Aligned spokesperson declined to answer The Frontier’s written questions about the campus’s energy and water use. State Rep. Dick Lowe had talked with landowners about the downsides of annexation, including the city covering costs if Aligned sued.
Concern: Residents question long-term water management and what a multi-building campus means for a farming community. “By the time we mobilized, it was too late,” said nearby landowner Mark Straka. Resident Kim Porter said there is “a place for it,” but not “in the middle of farming communities.”
Outcome: Annexation is off the table. Mayor Greg Mosier: “They’re coming, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”
Location Decision takeaway
In an unincorporated county with no planning commission, there is no public land-use hearing for opponents to contest or for a developer to clear. That speeds a project up, but it pushes the fight into other arenas, like annexation votes, water and the legislature, where the rules are less predictable. Developers who get ahead of residents with real numbers on water and power can keep that fight from forming.
Original reporting: Kayla Branch, The Frontier, September 26, 2026 (republished by the Tulsa Flyer). More from Kayla Branch.
About this item: Contested Ground items are sourced and written by AI from the credited reporting and public records linked above, following Location Decision’s editorial standards. We publish them to track disputes over what America builds and to inform Location Decision’s broader editorial analysis. They are not independent reporting by our staff.